The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen announced Thursday it has put off advertising for bids to build a new animal shelter for at least two weeks.

That’s how much time project architect Michael Bernard said he will need to have the project’s construction documents ready to go out for bids. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the board learned about the architect’s situation at a noon meeting on the shelter with Community Development Director Jeff Richardson.

The meeting preceded a 2:30 p.m. special called meeting on Thursday to advertise the project for bid. The board tabled the shelter matter shortly after convening. It could be reintroduced when the board holds its third meeting of the month on Aug. 15, which is just more than two weeks away.

If the board advertises the project for bids on Aug.15, a bid could be awarded sometime in September.

Richardson said after the meeting he and animal shelter director Kacie Lindsey reviewed the project plans Thursday morning, adding the review indicated some changes needed to be made in the plans and Bernard indicated some items needed to be fixed.

Bernard, Richardson said, needed to get back with the project engineer and had also received a review of the plans from Entergy.

“They weren’t quite ready to go and he’s just going through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure we don’t have a lot of change orders,” he said. “Making sure everyone’s on the same page.”

The board in January hired Bernard and Animal Shelters of America to design the shelter on a property at 4845 U.S. Highway 61 South that was donated to the city by the Ernest Thomas family to build the animal shelter. The property has an existing building that will be used for the shelter. The project cost is estimated at $1.4 million.

According to a preliminary floor plan for the shelter accompanying the agreement, the building will include animal receiving and grooming areas, separate medical isolation areas for cats and dogs, an area for puppies and small dog breeds, a total of 15 dog runs and a customer service area and lobby.